Thanks for taking a peek.
I installed a GE Z-Wave Plus 40-Amp Indoor/Outdoor Metal Box Smart Switch 14285. Have tried everything I can think of to try and get this thing going. Tried the Generic Z Wave Smart Switch driver as well as the Z Wave Metered Switch driver I found in the support community. Moved the hub 20 feet from the switch. Still I can get it to pair and it will work for a few hours, turn on and off from dashboard and through Alexa. After a few hours I can no longer get Hubitat to send signals or get a status from the switch. When I try to exclude it from the device list, it doesn’t recognize it. I have to press exclude in the device pairing section, and then it says excluded unrecognized device. If I do not exclude it and try to include it, Hubitat finds it with new device ID. Didn’t think an included device could be found again.
Ideas?
Sounds like you're having mesh issues. What is the distance between the hub and the device? What are the obstructions?
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There’s a sliding glass door and a lattice fence. Would say 20-30 feet distance. There’s also an inovelli repeater switch 10 feet from hub that is closer to the switch I’m having issues with.
Have run a z wave repair already too...
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Agree.
Another good sign of a mesh issue.
About how many Zwave devices do you have?
Any repeaters in the mix?
Where is the hub? Up high? Basement? Inside something like an entertainment center?
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8 switches/dimmers, about 3 are repeaters
The hub is on the ground right by the glass sliding door, as close as I can get it to the switch I’m having issues with outside. 20-30 ft distance
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I would start by raising it higher up if possible. No need to be level with the other devices, and you are just asking for dogs/kids/vacuum to damage it there. It also will get you into a thinner part of your walls up higher. Lots of lumber at the base of the walls...
Funny enough, looking through glass might not be the best choice. Low-E glass coatings can interfere with radio signals. It is typically a metallic layer applied to the glass. My work has this coating on the windows, and it virtually blocks all cell signals. It was such a huge issue that they had to add cell repeaters throughout the building. Aluminum siding, foil faced insulation, metal roofs, and other similar building materials can interfere too.
You also don't have very many repeating devices. I don't think there is a magic number, but it seems once you get closer to a dozen or so devices it really seems to help stabilize things.
My advice would be to add a repeater or two, and see what happens. You don't have to spend a ton of money, the first gen Ring repeaters are as low as $14, Second gen are $24 and you can get ones like the Iris 3210-L for well under $10 each if you buy in bulk. The other advantage of a repeater is you can fairly easily move it around to see where it makes the biggest difference. It is hard to do that with hard wired switches.
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So wanted to follow up with final ending.
Bad unit... Spoke to Jasco and rep said, from what I was experiencing the unit was most likely the culprit. I ordered another from Amazon and then sent the old one back once I swapped them. Has been a week now and have not had same issues. Even moved my Hub back up in the attic and still good connection.
Thanks for the replies and wanted to put this out there just in case someone else was searching for issues with this unit. Seems like a few people have run into same things.
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